We, Deaf People and Deaf People with multi disabilities, are One Family.
Hūtia te rito o te harakeke, kei hea te kōmako e ko?
Kī mai ki au, He aha te mea nui?
Māku e kī atu. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
Take the heart from the flax bush and where would the bellbird sing?
Ask what is the greatest thing?
I will tell you. It is people, people, people.
The harakeke is a Māori word which translated to flax in English. The proverb above is related to the Māori proverbs, cultures and beliefs. This proverb describes a whanau or a family as a whole universal people in the world. No matter who we are – D/deaf people, disabled people, Asian, African, D/deaf people with multi disabilities anywhere in the world.
What is a te harakeke, and where does harakeke grows in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Thousand years ago, long before the Māori people arrive here, there were many harakeke around the coastal, wetlands and near the mountains. Before arriving in Aotearoa, Māori people bought pandanis similar to harakeke from the Pacific Islands, and they tried to grow here. It was not successful, and Māori women tried to used the harakeke into weaving belts, clocks, skirts, ropes even babies baskets. There is a photo of a large harakeke in the nearby property, resembling a flax family. There are two different types of harakeke: common harakeke (in photo) and mountain flax (wharariki). There is similar flax in Norfork Islands as well in the past.
Why Māori people addressed harakeke in their proverb (Te Waonui a Tāne – forest mythology) over many years? It is a metaphor for family bonds and human relationships, and it defines people as the most important element in the universe. See how to nurture our own families and treat them with dignity and respect in the same way with people with disabilities and D/deaf people and children as one whole.
In the proverb, they believe that without the sound of children in the world, the next generation will be lost even if humanity will not survive. It is important to connect and better relate to the family, lands, and all living things on the earth. Many Māori people have strongly believed all living things are descended from the gods, embodied within mountains, rivers and lakes in their lives as a type of soul in Mana – a spiritual essence by seeing the environment and people in Aotearoa (New Zealand). What about D/deaf people and D/deaf with multi disabilities? More or less, everyone accepts their disabled family member as one whole family.
The important key message is to include every disabled child and D/deaf child in education, as inclusion in all schools and to learn our sign language to communicate with them.
Technology becoming fast-growing, and many D/deaf children, disabled children, even D/deaf adults and D/deaf with multi disabilities are unable to catch up and facing financial or funding issues for their lives as an independent. So yes, there are many barriers where people do not actually stop and think about us!
You must remember us as equal to you and your family, the staff even friends in the community and do not discourage us if you think or unable to communicate with us, do not forget us in the same room as your room during the meeting, classroom, in the church even in the cafe and in the library. Let learn from us so we can learn from you by problem-solving, breaking down the barriers, making an effort to make things better for us! You will amaze how we CAN DO anything you never thought.
Our sign language will never be lost, for sign language has been pass from one generation to another generation over thousand years, not every D/deaf children and adult will not do oral by their own choice, so sign language never be lost today, and we would not be stopped by the power of law made by the hearing people like scientist, audiologist and specialists (in the medical fields) who have not explored into our Deaf community and culture in the past or felt shame.
